Begging the question

[yendi]

I'm starting to put "begging the question" up there with confusing "you're" and "your" on my list of writing annoyances. Most people correctly consider the latter to be a sign of Laurell K. Hamitonian levels of sloppiness, but the former crops up in otherwise respectable places. The latest sinner is the blog of one of my gigs, Bookslut (although there's a guest blogger this week, so I don't need to cast any aspersions on my editor).

For the record: "Begging the question" is an action by itself. It does not have an object. It's a logical fallacy in which a person assumes the conclusion of their argument to be true in their premises.

If you must have an object, try raising the question instead of begging it.

Comments

[elfboy999.livejournal.com]

I must admit that I have done that...but only on accident....^_^

Elfboy999

[melintur.livejournal.com]

So how long have you been beating your wife?

(that's the example I have in my head to remember 'begging the question')

[thebaronofmspg.livejournal.com]

I hate when I do that. I mean, I wholly know and understand the difference. Yet, sometimes, especially when tired, I find I do all sorts of silly stuff like that -- the to's, the yours, etc.. It's annoying.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I was a rhetoric major at UC Berkeley once. This one was beaten into us with bamboo canes.

[amokk]

That's not "Begging the Question", that's called "Complex Question". The idea that by answering yes or no forces the person into the opposite, and usually negative, position.

http://datanation.com/fallacies/distract/cq.htm

Begging the Question is stating something and assuming it's true, or the proof of the statement is just the statement itself. "The Bible is all literal truth because it says it is."

http://datanation.com/fallacies/begging.htm



Stephen's Guide to Logical Fallacies, a good site to have bookmarked. :)

[melintur.livejournal.com]

See, you learn something every day! :D

[alecto23.livejournal.com]

Although I'd never really been aware of that one (the grammar whore in me cringes to think that I may have said it without thinking) I sit enlightened.

People using possessives instead of plurals is still the thing that bugs me the most, though.